The long-time leader of Democrats in the Iowa Senate was voted out of office after 34 years in the legislature. Mike Gronstal, of Council Bluffs, was one of six Democrats ousted in November. Now, Republicans have a majority in the Iowa Senate. It gives the GOP control of both chambers and the governor’s office.

“If you test the issues that Democrats stand for – things like standing up for the middle-class, working for a good public schools system...and access to higher education,” Gronstal says. “I think (Democrats) do well with the citizens.”

Gronstal has announced his bid for chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party. He says the election post-mortem is not complete and Democrats need to do a better job of communicating their message.

Related Content

Iowa’s secretary of state is proposing voter ID legislation that he says will ensure the integrity of the state's elections. The proposal requires a voter to show a passport, state-issued ID, driver’s license or military ID before casting a ballot.

Though Sec. Paul Pate has yet to release a draft of the bill, he says any voters who do not have an ID will be issued a free voter identification card. Student IDs would not be accepted, but Pate says down the road that could change.

With Republicans now in control of the Iowa House and Senate and the governor’s office, the so-called trifecta, enthusiasm for cutting taxes is running high. GOP leaders in both chambers have been telling groups around the state of their hopes and dreams for tax cuts. But so far Governor Branstad is not on board.

The USDA has allocated 115 thousand acres from the Conservation Reserve Program to Iowa, so farmers previously shut out of CRP can apply on a first-come first-served basis this month.

Contracts on some 2. 5 million acres nationwide are expiring this year, and the federal government is taking a more targeted approach to the program, which pays farmers to transfer environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production into conservation.